I’m exceedingly proud to announce the debut of my new weekly vinyl column, “INCHES” on the LA Weekly music blog, West Coast Sound. The full title of the inaugural installment is “INCHES001: Local revolutions, pt.1 — five L.A. vinyl exclusives revealed and reviewed.”

This edition features five releases by L.A.-area artists on L.A.-area labels — Mika Miko (PPM), Xasthur (Hydra Head), RxBandits (Sargent House), Castledoor (Seven Inch Project), and Shafiq (Poo-Bah) — that either are not available on CD, or sport a drool-worthy design. A free MP3 accompanies each writeup, along with a photo of the package shot, for better or for worse, by yours truly.

Mika Miko's We Be Xuxa (PPM)

Future installments will include up-to-date reviews of wax by L.A. artists and/or L.A. imprints, profiles on local vinyl shops and labels, cratedigger-curated selections, swap meet outings, and whatever else seems like a good idea at the time. If you haven’t clicked over there already, please do so here.

Truth be told, I’ve been a fan of Southern California’s Rx Bandits since I was a high school junior. That was when the band skewed a wee bit ska and their resonance seemed doomed to passing fad. At least, to the outsiders. Those of us really listening knew that a long and illustrious career of genre-bending and “weird music” (singer Matt Embree’s phrase) would follow. Whether you got it then or not, the band’s new record, Mandala, is strong prog-punk worthy of stronger praise. Read what Embree had to say here.